I was sent this and one of our people found an old newspaper with an interview with Cosie Hutchings, daughter of James Hutchings. This is the part that caught their eye. Tom (Hutchings) came in from Bloody Canyon (one of the ways we Paiutes used to enter Yosemite), from across the Mono Desert (meaning he was from the eastern side of the Sierra's which is part of the Great Basin desert). This indicates he was a Paiute and not a Southern Sierra Miwuk.

More proof that Tom Hutchings was a Yosemite - Mono Lake Paiute and not Miwok

If you walk around Yosemite you might see this sign paid for by the Yosemite Fund located at the base of Yosemite Falls in the park. Here it is below;

Tom Hutchings, a native Miwok...hmm, oh really?

Craig Bates, the official Yosemite Park Indian ethnologist who was married to Miwok, also wrote that Tom Hutchings was a Southern Sierra Miwok in his book Tradition and Innovation published by the Yosemite Association.

The same Craig Bates who used to dress up as Miwok and dance at ceremonies and help create the Miwok village in Yosemite.

The problem is that if an objective person were to use their brain they would have realized that there were no Miwok men in Yosemite Valley in early times. Most "Miwok" women had married non-Indian men in the area and had left their people and tribal customs and ways behind.

At the same time when these signs were being made a few of the Indian employees at Yosemite National park were going for federal recognition and going for a big casino.

One problem...they needed Indian men to document a early tribe, sure they had Indian women, Indian women who married white men, but no Indian men. How can you have a tribe that was mostly made up of Indian women married to non-Indians? So this it what we believe they did...THEY "BORROWED" OUR MONO PAIUTE MEN to make it seem like they had Indian men in this so called 'tribe'.

Since some of these people worked in the park we believe it was easy to bamboozle their fellow non-Indian employees and start changing Paiute men into Miwok men. Maybe hoping no one would notice before they got federally recognized and had a nice big casino outside of Yosemite National Park.

But, like all things some people do, it was the Mono Lake Paiute themselves who noticed that our men were being stolen for what we believe was someone elses agenda.

Of course Yosemite National Park denies this is happening even though we believe the truth is right in front of their face, because we believe that they are "good friends" with the Indian employees who are going for federal recognition. That is why we believe they should not go for federal recognition while they work or worked in Yosemite National Park, because historical information can be tainted...like we Paiutes believe happened in this case.

What Yosemite National Park is doing is ERASING the memory of the Paiute people in Yosemite in favor of a few of the current and former Indian employees so we believe they can misrepresent that our people were Miwoks for their own federal recognition. Meanwhile destorying our people from the history of Yosemite.

We have already PROVEN that Yosemite had this photo of Tom Hutchings in the small Yosemite Research Library above the Yosemite Indian Musuem, with "Tom Hutchings - Mono Indian" on the back. You can view it here;

Tom was even written about in James Hutchings book "Heart of the Sierra" as a Paiute man. Paiutes, Washos, and Yokuts in the area were patriarchal, meaning the line in the old days came from the fathers line. So basically Tom Hutchings was a Mono Paiute Indian.

Then we found more proof online in the personal testimony of the children of James Hutchings, who Tom used to work for;

Here is the Yosemite Indian text written about MONO PAIUTE Tom Huthcings, who worked for John Hutchings, upclose;

I have transcribed it so you can read what it says;

…ley. He had come in over Bloody Canyonand across the Mono Desert, to marry a Yosemite squaw. He married her buthe never left. He met Father and wentto work for him. Never after would Tomdo a lick of work for anybody else. Heworked up at the sawmill, and stayedon here for the rest of his life. Tom wasa good, thoughtful Indian. When theluacious wild strawberries came in, hemade it a point to keep our table wellsupplied – at he did with other wild fruitsin season.

In time, Tom became Father’s shadow.Together they collected seeds and specimens of trees and plants that today areflourishing in Kew Gardens in England.Tom also helped Father build the firsttrails, roads, bridges and dwellings inthis valley. Later, to make them safer,Father had to go to our Legislature toget a $10,000 grant to do it.

I still love the Indians the outdoors,but horses were my favorite pastime. Igrew up with them. We didn’t get far inthose days without horses. I could man-age horses when others couldn’t. Wekept them postured down there in themeadow.

In the testimony of James Hutchings' children they state that Tom (Hutchings) came from Bloody Canyon, the Mono Desert, which is a Paiute area.

So the proof is clear. Tom Hutchings was a Mono Lake Paiute Native American, not a Southern Sierra Miwuk as has been falsely written for what we Paiutes believe is for the benifit of a few. There has never been any proof likewise that Tom Hutchings was a Miwok.

If there is...show us.

Remember this person knew Tom Hutchings personally.

Changing the history of Yosemite National Park is wrong for a few and against the National Park Services' motto of highest integrity.

Yosemite National Park, Give us back our people and stop stealing our Paiute men like Captain Sam, Bridgeport Tom, Captain John, Chief George Dick and his son Charlie Dick, Lancisco Wilson and his son, Captain Rueben, Bill, Young Charlie, Piute George, and of course Tom Hutchings...and the man himself, Chief Tenaya.

This is an interesting article, but close to the bottom is a reference to the children of "John Hutchings". Was there another Hutchings involved in this besides James M. Hutchings, Cosie and Tom Hutchings?